Do celebrities own a “get out of jail” free card?

Do celebrities seem to have a monopoly on their freedom because they always seem to play their get out of jail free card?

In a world where money speaks louder than words and the staple of their diet consists of California rolls and not bread and water it is certainly an unwelcome shock to the system when celebrities are forced to slum it with the dregs of the high society in jail.

It seems to be a common belief that money can get you out of every problem. But is that really true? Is money really the answer to the kleptomaniacs’ dreams?

Not really.

I would venture to say that the odds are that judges would be willing to accept a financial pay-off under the table the same way that a maitre would at the newest restaurant because, in the eyes of those celebrities, money really can get them what they want... most of the time. However, the key to this is that it’s done secretly. Although this cannot work for a celebrity whose life is made readily available to the consumer willing to pay $1.99 for the gossip magazine at the check-out stand. In other words, their fame is actually a hindrance.

If you’ve watched the news or haven’t been living under a rock for the past week, you’d know that Paris Hilton was going to jail. I can’t imagine anyone having access to more money or better resources then her and yet, she’s still going to jail. There’s almost a sadistic pleasure at the thought of the Heiress of the Hilton empire not being given a jail suite equipped with mini bar and the chocolate on the pillow at night. Instead she will be forced to experience the luxury worse than a Motel 6. Maybe were all so cynical about it because it’s such a shock to the system that they are being accountable for their actions.

Better yet, look to Martha Stewart. If you think that she’s the first person to have done some sort of insider trading, then you’d be seriously mistaken because only someone with that much power and clout has access to information that most of us only dream about. But yet, she was the one who got caught. Why?

Why go after Martha Stewart and not your average billionaire? Because it sends the same message that I am trying to send: That everyone no matter how many million-dollar bills they might have this is one bill they cannot simply pay off. No matter how much money they have, they are not above the law. And who else could make this message public than a public figure themselves?

It’s almost ironic that while Martha Stewart was accepting stock market tips that her own market would experience a crash landing... her in jail!

If money or fame is really the price of freedom these days then why hasn’t Courtney Love been able to free herself yet? I can’t think of any celebrity who has been in court more than her yet she’s still being made to be accountable for her actions. Or look to Joe Francis, the founder of ‘Girls Gone Wild’ who has more money than the imagination can comprehend and yet no amount of money was able to keep him out of jail. In fact, his money is whats going to keep him in jail longer. He tried exactly what I’m suggesting can’t be done. He tried to bride a guard but instead of getting what he wanted, he simply got another charge. Did they rat him out because he was the first person to bribe a guard? No. It’s just that everyone loves to kick a dog when it’s down.

Most people assume that celebrities can pay their way out of a problem, but it doesn’t appear to be the case anymore.

The price of freedom seems to be getting higher than Willy Nelson... allegedly. The amount of money that they can offer doesn’t seem to be enough.

I don’t doubt that celebrities might be able to get out of some things but anything major, is out of their hands. They can’t just send a check for a hundred grand to make the situation go away when the rest of the world is waiting with baited breath to see what happens next. No judge would be that stupid. These people walk around with hundreds of cameras following them everyday and nobody is going to want to give them a “favor” that you or I might get for fear of being ridiculed for giving them special treatment.

From the average person’s viewpoint the last person they would want to help out would be a celebrity in a fix secretly because we love the fact that they are now brought down to our level. We love that we can now relate to them because they’re not so untouchable and we love that so much that we want to keep them there for as long as possible.

Whether we like to be as honest as all that and admit it; their fall from grace is like music to our ears and instead of whistling to the tune of their 6-figure pay-off check they are now whistling along to the bittersweet sounds of their cell-mate’s whistling to get through the day! The way they pay off their freedom like in a game of Monopoly has finally turned into a game of Risk and to our satisfaction they now have to play by the rules ; the main one being that their get out of jail free card has reached its cell-by date!

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